First-ever spot Solana staking ETF debuts with $33M trading volume

The first spot Solana staking exchange-traded fund, the REX-Osprey Solana + Staking ETF, which debuted on Wednesday, drew strong investor interest. According to Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas, the fund ended its first trading day with around $33 million in volume.

Another Bloomberg analyst, James Seyffart, reported that the ETF had about $8 million in trading volume in the first 20 minutes of its launch.

While the trading volume of the ETF was impressive, it still fell short of the levels seen during the debut of Bitcoin and Ether spot ETFs. Balchunas commented:

SSK ended the day with $33m in volume. Again, blows away the Solana futures ETF and XRP futures ETFs (or the avg ETF launch), but it is much lower than the Bitcoin and Ether spot ETFs.

Eric Balchunas

The REX-Osprey Solana + Staking ETF reached about $1 million in AUM on Wednesday

The Solana staking ETF also wrapped up its debut day with about $1 million worth of assets under management. Balchunas believes the ETF could soon manage $10 million in assets on its second trading day, given its current trading volume. 

The ETF differs quite from others, which are still awaiting the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval.

The commission registered the REX-Osprey Solana + Staking ETF under the Investment Company Act of 1940—an investor-focused framework with stricter regulations. That means the fund must hold its assets with a qualified and trusted custodian. The ETF’s founders selected Anchorage Digital for the role, seeing that it’s the sole federally regulated crypto bank authorized to handle both custody and staking of digital assets.

Anchorage CEO Nathan McCauley commented on the ETF’s launch, describing staking as the next evolution in the crypto ETF space and calling the fund’s debut a significant step toward offering institutions secure and regulated crypto access.

The SEC announced that Grayscale’s ETF conversion plans are still under review

On Tuesday, Grayscale also earned the SEC’s approval to change its Digital Large-Cap Fund into an ETF. The fund includes the top five cryptocurrencies by market cap: Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, XRP, and Cardano’s ADA.

Arbitrage traders once profited by exploiting gaps in market prices and NAV in Grayscale’s crypto trusts, mostly fueled by restricted redemptions and mandatory lock-up periods. However, with the firm moving to convert its private trusts into ETFs, those opportunities have significantly narrowed.

Grayscale even explained that moving forward, it wants the values of the shares to reflect the value of the digital assets held by the fund. 

The SEC, however, is still reviewing the firm’s ETF conversion plans. On Wednesday, in a letter to the New York Stock Exchange, the agency’s deputy secretary announced that the commission would reexamine the approval for Grayscale’s ETF conversion, signaling continued hesitation to loosen its approach to crypto ETFs.

In June 2022, the firm also faced trouble when it tried to convert the BTC Trust into an ETF. It filed a petition in court after the agency rejected its application.

The legal battle stretched over a year until August 2023, when a US judge ruled that the SEC’s rejection of the conversion was “arbitrary and capricious,” ultimately granting Grayscale’s petition. Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust operates as an ETF with a 1.5% expense ratio—the highest among Bitcoin ETFs—and remains the top-earning BTC investment product.